Sat, 08 Jul 2017 13:28:16 +0000
By PRINCE CHIBAWAH
POOR waste management practices are a major source of increased cases of preventable diseases in the country, Minister of local government Vincent Mwale has charged.
Mr Mwale said some communities had continued to experience cases of cholera, dysentery and typhoid due to the widespread dumping of waste in drainage systems and open spaces.
“Solid waste management is a growing challenge for city authorities in several developing countries, including Zambia.”
“This has been due to rapid growth in economic activity and population, as well as the increasing burden that this places on municipal budgets due to the high costs of its management.”
Mr Mwale said this in the speech read on his behalf by his Permanent Secretary Amos Malupenga at the Solid Waste Management Symposium held at Government Complex yesterday.
Mr Mwale however said Government was delivering an efficient waste management system as part of its contributions towards the physical well-being of the citizenry in Zambia.
“My ministry sought to deliver this service through the Local Authorities in a sustaining, efficient and affordable manner.”
He explained that Government was also working with the Local Authorities in seeking to establish energy production from municipal solid waste which he said had increasingly been embraced as one of the best practices.
“This will be done under a Public Private Partnership (PPP) systems in Lusaka and will be scaled up to the Copperbelt where a feasibility study is being undertaken by the Finnish developer.”
He added that the gap between existing legislation and actual waste management practices was widening due to continuing capacity constraints and lack of waste management facilities for various waste streams.
“It is for this reason that resource-efficient and cleaner production has become a feasible best practice for reducing waste in order to bring waste management into the circular economy. It is therefore important to raise awareness by all players among citizens in this regard,” said Mr Mwale.
